<p>Hi, My LD son receives accomodation in school -- has for years -- including additional time and a keyboard. I am very nervous about our initial approach to the ETS for accomodation on the PSAT's he will take next year. I have heard horror stories about severly LD kids requests being denied despite excellent documentation. I think our school takes care of the application for us, but I'm hoping other parents with experience in this area will share their stories. </p>
<p>I am wondering: Does the ETS make its criteria for various accomodations public? Is there an appeal process, and has anyone on CC ever appealed successfully? Is there a body of literature on this topic somewhere? Are there legal issues involved, given that there are relevant state and federal laws, and the SAT is required at our state universities? </p>
<p>I understand that ETS accomodation has been abused by unscrupulous parents, and I would prefer not to hear from folks who think that 1) LD doesn't exist; 2) accomodation should not exist; and 3) accomodating LD kids is unfair. Please.</p>
<p>They may not offer accommodations for the PSAT. I have not heard of anyone getting them. Their appeals process is very unfair. They admit that they are not likely to change their decisions. Be sure you do everything right the first time. Have very thorough testing done. It must show by numbers that a student is severely disabled. They look for numbers under 25% functionality in an area. They look for the diagnosis by name. If your S is dyslexic, it needs to say Dyslexia. If your public school testing is not thorough enough, you need to get private testing done. I know of several students who should have had accommodations and did not get them. One student got 720 in math and 380 in CR. Along with a documented disability in reading, those widely split scores are a sign of a disability. SAT refused to change their original decision even after seeing those scores. The key is having good documentation. Do it now.</p>
<p>You might want to investigate the accommodations policy of the ACT people. I have heard that they are better at this sort of thing than the College Board is.</p>
<p>The PSAT doesn't really matter much (except for potential National Merit semifinalists), but at some point your son will need to take either the SAT or the ACT. If the ACT offers better accommodations, perhaps he could skip the SAT altogether.</p>
<p>my daughter recieved accomodations for SAT but she didn't for PSAT
since it is used more for scholarships rather than actual college admittance- I dont think they give accomodations</p>
<p>This is disturbing info. Why should an LD kid who performs well with accomodation be at a disadvantage for National Merit or scholarships? Has anyone here asked for PSAT accomodations? I'll contact ETS, but would love to be armed with knowledge of other people's experience in this arena first. Also, in terms of ACT vs. SAT, we'll definitely apply for accomodation for both and then see which, if either, comes up with the level that he needs. </p>
<p>Where is public info on this, by the way? Not on the ETS website.</p>
<p>Thank you, over30! Can't believe I missed this myself. But from what other posters are saying, it sounds as if people have had problems actually getting the accomodations for PSAT. Am I misunderstanding?</p>
<p>From what I've heard the schools don't like to give accommodations for the PSAT. You can get them from college board, but you have to find a place that will accommodate you. I would check with your child's school first to be sure they offer them.</p>
<p>It is certainly possible to recieve extra time on the psat, along with any other accomadations that you may need. Initially for the psat I only got extended breaks and getting to fill in the bubbles on my answer sheet so I was placed in a room with people who got accomadations, and I was the only one out of 25 people recieving accomadations who did not get extra time. (which was unfair since I have a well documented learning disability and have been using extra time on tests for several years).</p>
<p>As for the appeals process, that is also possible. I was denied three or four times, before they finally said yes. First they were just going to give me extended breaks. Then they added on writing directly on the exam. Then they finally granted me extra time.</p>
<p>Just a word of advice, if anyone is allowed to write directly on the exam, be really careful about the essay, because the college board lost my essay since it was written on lined paper (they did not give me an answer booklet so I didn't know where to write my essay). It was a complete nightmare, and I ended up retaking the essay in August, which meant I didn't get my score until months after the test. So I personally would not reccomend this accomadation.</p>
<p>hmb88 -- Thank you for sharing your personal story, and your advice about the essay accomodation. I'm wondering, when ETS denied you accomodation and you had to appeal, did they tell you why they had denied your request and what additional info they needed? Did you and your parents handle the appeal, or did you school counselor do it for you? Maybe I'm anticipating problems that won't arise, but I want to have a sense of what we're facing.</p>
<p>Mrs. P -- We have been extremely fortunate in that my S's school is willing to accomodate, given appropriate documentation, meeting with administrators who ultimately proved very supportive, input from a consulting psychologist, etc. (Many, many hours of testing with test instruments they specified preceded the accomodations.) We appreciate this particularly since this is a private school that does not have the same mandate to accomodate as a public, and accomodating S really does inconvenience them (although they never say so.) I have the feeling that if the ETS agrees, they will provide him with the testing environment he needs; they like it when their students score well and they love NM recognition. I am a bit concerned, though, because S may be the only one requesting his particular accomodation and I'm not sure how they'll handle it. If they have to assign him his own proctor, how is the cost handled?</p>
<p>I got a letter 4 days before the psat telling me that I had been denied for accomadations (not very much notice considered I had submitted documentation months before). This was a shocker to me because I had just assumed that I would be recieving them. My parents spent endless amounts of time both on their own and with the school to get me accomadations. I think I retook one reading test, I went to a special othpamologist and took some tests to further demonstrate that I had a slow reading rate, and my resource room teacher at school wrote a letter on my behalf. I'm sure that the school put in some calls, but it was mainly my mom and her persistance that got me the extra time that I needed. She ended up calling so many educational lawyer type people to figure out what to say to the college board. One of the problems that I had with the college boards was that each time we appealed, they never told me until the week before what the outcome was, so I never knew when I took practice tests how much time to allow myself.</p>
<p>I hope that your child gets what they need the first time around, and you are spared of the stresses of dealing with the college board.</p>
<p>As far as the cost of the proctor goes, I wouldn't worry about it. I took an SAT II where I was the only one, and I took an SAT once where there was two other people. I don't think that they can deny you of an accomodation because there are not enough people who need the same thing.</p>
<p>My D received accomodations on all tests issued by the College Board, including PSAT, SAT, SAT II's and APs. Her school regularly provides a room for kids with accomodations to take the tests, even if there are only 2 or 3. When we applied however we provided all current testing and reports (previous summer) and evidence that the accomodations had been in place for school based exams for a specified prior period of time. We were not confident that accomodations would be granted, but we received notification from the College Board in a timely manner that she was eligible for her accomodations as described above.</p>
<p>I just received notification today from ETS that my D was granted 50% additional time for all administrations of the PSAT, SAT and AP tests. I had turned in the application to the GC on May 23. She had recommended getting the app in early, so there would be plenty of time to appeal the decision before the Oct. test date, so I was surprised to receive a positive response so soon. </p>
<p>D is ADHD, receives additional time for tests at school, and recently underwent updated testing for the specific purpose of substantiating the need for additional time for standardized testing. I suspect that she would do better on the ACT than the SAT (last year's PSAT scores were not great, and her ERB scores have been consistently abysmal), and asked the GC about obtaining accommodations for that test. She said the ACT has never granted additional time to anyone from our school for ADHD.</p>
<p>hmb88-- Now that your accomodations are in place for ETS testing, are you finding that the test center complies well and that the accomodations themselves provide you with the test-taking environment that you need? Are they working well for you?</p>
<p>tootrue -- Is 50% additional time also the specific accomodation she receives at school? Is it what you requested? (I'm wondering if ETS tends to follow the school's lead on the amount of extra time.)</p>
<p>runnersmom -- Are you comfortable sharing the kind of accomodation your D received, and if it reflects what she has received at school.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences.</p>
<p>AnonyMom, yes, D gets same accommodation at school, and that's what we requested from CB. I remember hearing somewhere that getting more than 50% extended time is virtually unheard of.</p>
<p>Yikes, my S receives more than 50% at school, and even this is beginning to cut him off before he's finished in advanced classes. If ETS grants him less, there will be a real problem on all sections. Has anybody heard of more than 100% being granted and, if so, under what circumstances?</p>
<p>annoymom- I'm a high school senior so luckily I am done with all ETS testing. The accomadations were a help, however, I was used to getting double time at school, so it was a bit rushed only getting time and a half. The school was great with helping me out as much as they could with getting me the testing environment that I needed. They even hired a proctor specifically for me in August and let me take the test in a really comfortable room, after the college board agreed that I could retake the essay that they lost.</p>
<p>Dear hmb88, It is so nice of you to share your experiences! It sounds as if the accomodations worked out well for you too despite the uncertainty of not knowing what if any accomodation you would receive until the very last minute. As the parent of a younger student, it is very heartening to hear about this from a senior. I'm wondering, did you request a 100% time accomodation on the SAT's at first? It's hard to imagine my S being able to cope with less time than he's already receving in school on such a stressful, lengthy exam. Thanks again!</p>
<p>yes I did request 100 percent extra time, but since the cb denied it (along with most people's initial requests at my school), my guidance counselor thought that them giving me double time was unlikely. Best of luck to your son!</p>